I am not much of a starbucks fan, but yeah, their instant VIA coffee packs are not bad. I did a big project at a former job a couple years ago that involved sending cards to customers with a pack of those in there. Went to like 3K people, and of course there were bad addresses, so we got hundreds back, and I kept the coffee.

However...they are expensive, in my opinion. Costco is much cheaper to buy than at Starbucks. But I still could not bring myself to buy it once the freebies ran out.

What I do for iced coffee is do a cold press, then keep it in my fridge. Lasts a couple of weeks. There is some do-ahead prep time, but the work is minimal, its mostly just sitting there for awhile. TOTALLY worth the small amount of prep work. And it workes with ANY coffee that you have. I use my french press.

So, this isn't exactly answering your question, but I also do the coldpress thing like chicki said, but I don't even have a french press, I just use ground coffee and a mason jar. Let it sit a bit, filter it, reuse the grounds once (with less water) and it's fantastic. Plus, it only takes patience the first time if you keep it going.

I would imagine that instant espresso wouldn't be awful if mixed correctly.

Ditto on the cold press. I just pressed a batch I let sit for 24 hours. It's really good for using up odds and ends of beans you may not want to make an actual pot of. I usually use some of it for drinking (and add soymilk vs. water to re-constitute a bit) and bake with it.

Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:36 pmPosts: 1693Location: the land of too much wine and wind

Seconded! Toddies make the best iced coffee. You end up with a concentrate that's really smooth, low acidity, and it really brings out the chocolatey, nutty goodness of the beans. It's pretty easy to rig up something similar if you don't have the actual Toddy contraption. Here's a nice illustrated post on the method.

_________________I just brought out the carrot sticks. This is war. - paprikapapaya

Seconded! Toddies make the best iced coffee. You end up with a concentrate that's really smooth, low acidity, and it really brings out the chocolatey, nutty goodness of the beans. It's pretty easy to rig up something similar if you don't have the actual Toddy contraption. Here's a nice illustrated post on the method.

wow, that looks so good. I have to try this when it gets warmer.

_________________"If I were M. de la Viandeviande, I would now write a thirteen page post about how you have to have free will to be vegan, but modern science does not suggest any evidence for free will, therefore it is impossible to be vegan." -mumbles